Testosterone VS Social anxiety ....who wins ?

[Jacob*]

Hey all,

anyone here can see a major ( or any ) change on their social anxiety since TRT treatment?


My blood work indicates low T secondary, im 34 and in good shape. I exercises daily , eat clean, zinc , vitamin d and sleep 7-8 hours but still feel lethargic, anxious.... My reasons to hop on TRT would be to get back my sex drive , energy but my MAIN REASONs would be to alleviate my social anxiety and depression. Many studies relate low T with social anxious behaviors such as avoidance and submissiveness. I have been on many medications, tried mediation, read books, exercise, alcohol, ice baths, CBT therapy, and yes it has helped me BUT im just wondering if you saw a difference in yourself on TRT?


Feel free to respond in details ......

*****

 

[Megatron28]

Let's see your blood work results. Post them up please.

Lots of guys with anxiety see it disappear or lessen when they get on TRT if they are able to keep their estradiol in check. Many are able to stop using SSRI's.

Are you taking an SSRI? Many have found that they can lower Testosterone levels.

 

[Albiedamned]

I was on an ssri of 8 years, got off completely for 3 years and was still battling sky high daily anxiety. I spent that time learning how to manage my emotional state and learn better coping. It was only mildly successful. Post TRT getting dialed in I am back to my cool and calm self on the inside and outside. I was mostly able to fake it before and appear calm as my job required it, but inside I was a fucking wreck. I am rarely really bothered by shit these days. All trouble seems like it could be dealt with. Just need the right resources and time, and I have even begun to challenge myself to achieve more in my personal, social, spiritual, and financial life instead of just staying in my small little comfort zone.

 

[johnfromeurope]

post bloodwork .. if you're low, it may help ..

 

[halfwit]

I'm of the firm belief that it really depends on the cause of anxiety/depression before a blanket statement can be made whether or not testosterone replacement will truly work wonders. If there are underlying psychological issues, those should be worked through with a qualified professional.

However, I did spend a decade in which I barely remember half of it, on a wide variety of benzos and other drugs to help me even walk out the door to take the trash to the curb. I didn't know I had the same hormones as a teenage girl either. I have completely come off every single med except diabetes/lisinopril as it was just too long of a time period to be running on 2 cylinders.

IF you do have low testosterone, it's a life changing experience. However, if you don't need it, I think this is the wrong path to venture down.

My .02c

 

[Un1baller]

I have had very bad anxiety, social and just in general. It has gotten worse over the years and I am hoping that once my TRT starts working, the anxiety will fade away. My test levels are 300 ng/dl and I just started my TRT yesterday. I made a log thread as well.

 

[Jacob*]

This is what I have.

Age: 34
Weight-205
Height- 5'9

Glucose, Serum 70 mg/dL 65 - 99
Triglycerides 49 mg/dL 0 - 149

Testosterone, Serum 249 ng/dL 300 - 1197
Free Testosterone(Direct) 8.6pg/mL 6.8 - 21.5

HDL Cholesterol 1.83 mmol/l (.90-1.80) High
LDL Cholesterol 2.46

TSH 1.18 mIU/L 1.18 ( 2.80-21.60)

AST 48 IU/L (6 - 40) High
ALT 39 IU/L (7 - 50)

* I dont take ssris,benzo anti depressants
* no psychological trauma

 

[Megatron28]

This is what I have.

Age: 34
Weight-205
Height- 5'9

Glucose, Serum 70 mg/dL 65 - 99
Triglycerides 49 mg/dL 0 - 149

Testosterone, Serum 249 ng/dL 300 - 1197
Free Testosterone(Direct) 8.6pg/mL 6.8 - 21.5

HDL Cholesterol 1.83 mmol/l (.90-1.80) High
LDL Cholesterol 2.46

TSH 1.18 mIU/L 1.18 ( 2.80-21.60)

AST 48 IU/L (6 - 40) High
ALT 39 IU/L (7 - 50)

* I dont take ssris,benzo anti depressants
* no psychological trauma

How do you know that you have Secondary Hypogonadism? Have you checked Prolactin?

Are you going to start TRT?

 

[Jacob*]

Those blood work are from a GP who doesn't really "believe" in TRT. I dont know if im hypo but I do know I feel like shit. We didnt test prolactin. What do you think of my numbers? Should I do a more profound ?

 

[Megatron28]

Those blood work are from a GP who doesn't really "believe" in TRT. I dont know if im hypo but I do know I feel like shit. We didnt test prolactin. What do you think of my numbers? Should I do a more profound ?

I recommend more blood work. You have Hypogonadism. You need to understand if it is Primary or Secondary. That is determined by checking LH and FSH. Check prolactin and estradiol too.

Read the following thread to understand TRT better and what you need to be looking at before deciding how to treat your hypogonadism.

http://www.steroidology.com/forum/testosterone-replacement-therapy/662394-basic-trt-overview.html

Also, if your Doc doesn't understand that there are serious longterm health risks that come with hypogonadism, you need to find a new doc.

 

[Jacob*]

Thanks for the help. I continue in that direction.

 

[cybrsage]

I am currently seeing a psychiatrist because of my lack of being able to read social cues. I basically act as if I have a Adult Asperger's Syndrome. Luckily for me, my psychiatrist is the regional expert on all things Autism (the regional hospitals send everyone they think might have Autism to him for professional review, for example). He said I do not have Asperger's, but after a brief chat we figured out the issue. I discovered alcohol at age 13 and, after my first taste I realized I was fixed...had not known I was broken before, but now I was surely fixed and a proper person. This lead to my eventual alcoholism, etc.

The issue is that I missed the entire teenage angst and awkwardness years where social graces are learned. The years where you learn how to read the facial expressions and body language of others. I simply do not see it...I have no idea when someone is slowly getting upset, for example, until they explode. I have quite a bit of social anxiety for any new situation since I have no idea how to behave in it. I have to learn all the rules on the fly, each and every time. With my friends I am fine, but when around strangers...it is a very exhausting situation. Everyone simply chalked up my awkwardness as being due to my intellect - the stereotypical very smart kid with no social graces...but it is more than that. I also numbed all my emotions so I was always on an even keel - never really happy but never really sad, never really loving but never really angry.

I am now, at 45, learning what everyone else did at 15. Shit is hard, too.

But back to TRT and its relation to the issue. I stopped drinking a few years after I stopped making enough testosterone but I did not know about the low T. Slowly I moved from being a drunk to being an antisocial, recluse who had no desire to do anything and was completely apathetic. My wife figured it was caused by the changes I was making due to not drinking and that it would pass, but two years later it was still there. Eventually I saw the low T commercials on TV and slowly found my way into testosterone injections. Now I feel all the normal emotions everyone else feels and have absolutely no experience in how to control them. I have the teenage angst in a full grown adult body and all the power that comes with being an adult. It is a very rough time. I have seriously thought about giving up on TRT and just going back to how I was before. It was easy, it was pleasant...but I was not actually living so I do not stop taking my test.

So yes, being on TRT has increased my social anxiety. It is not due to the test, though, but rather due to all my other poor life choices finally catching up with me.

 

[CYP11A1]

I'm of the firm belief that it really depends on the cause of anxiety/depression before a blanket statement can be made whether or not testosterone replacement will truly work wonders. If there are underlying psychological issues, those should be worked through with a qualified professional.

However, I did spend a decade in which I barely remember half of it, on a wide variety of benzos and other drugs to help me even walk out the door to take the trash to the curb. I didn't know I had the same hormones as a teenage girl either. I have completely come off every single med except diabetes/lisinopril as it was just too long of a time period to be running on 2 cylinders.

IF you do have low testosterone, it's a life changing experience. However, if you don't need it, I think this is the wrong path to venture down.

My .02c

I am currently seeing a psychiatrist because of my lack of being able to read social cues. I basically act as if I have a Adult Asperger's Syndrome. Luckily for me, my psychiatrist is the regional expert on all things Autism (the regional hospitals send everyone they think might have Autism to him for professional review, for example). He said I do not have Asperger's, but after a brief chat we figured out the issue. I discovered alcohol at age 13 and, after my first taste I realized I was fixed...had not known I was broken before, but now I was surely fixed and a proper person. This lead to my eventual alcoholism, etc.

The issue is that I missed the entire teenage angst and awkwardness years where social graces are learned. The years where you learn how to read the facial expressions and body language of others. I simply do not see it...I have no idea when someone is slowly getting upset, for example, until they explode. I have quite a bit of social anxiety for any new situation since I have no idea how to behave in it. I have to learn all the rules on the fly, each and every time. With my friends I am fine, but when around strangers...it is a very exhausting situation. Everyone simply chalked up my awkwardness as being due to my intellect - the stereotypical very smart kid with no social graces...but it is more than that. I also numbed all my emotions so I was always on an even keel - never really happy but never really sad, never really loving but never really angry.

I am now, at 45, learning what everyone else did at 15. Shit is hard, too.

But back to TRT and its relation to the issue. I stopped drinking a few years after I stopped making enough testosterone but I did not know about the low T. Slowly I moved from being a drunk to being an antisocial, recluse who had no desire to do anything and was completely apathetic. My wife figured it was caused by the changes I was making due to not drinking and that it would pass, but two years later it was still there. Eventually I saw the low T commercials on TV and slowly found my way into testosterone injections. Now I feel all the normal emotions everyone else feels and have absolutely no experience in how to control them. I have the teenage angst in a full grown adult body and all the power that comes with being an adult. It is a very rough time. I have seriously thought about giving up on TRT and just going back to how I was before. It was easy, it was pleasant...but I was not actually living so I do not stop taking my test.

So yes, being on TRT has increased my social anxiety. It is not due to the test, though, but rather due to all my other poor life choices finally catching up with me.

Just to echo a couple of messages here. Seeing a lot of people with chronic pain who also happen to have depression it's not a big surprise that once their pain is under better control they feel a lot less depressed.

Figuring out the root of the cause is usually much more effective than medicating with the crap we have for 'anxiety'. But it sounds like you're not on anything currently.

 

[cybrsage]

I am afraid to take any drugs for anxiety and such. My mind is my primary wage earning device and I am too worried drugs will mess it up - especially those which are purposefully designed to change the make up of the mind!

 

[Atlaz]

Im not on TRT but I would say that for the majority of people injecting exogenous T seem to have positive psychological effects.

" In summary, accumulating evidence indicates that T can have anxiolytic effects in a variety of rodent models of anxiety, but can increase context-related fear mediated by learning processes in the hippocampus. The result of T administration can depend on factors such as baseline activity, dose and treatment duration. In addition, the neurobiological effects of pharmacological manipulations could be very different from the organizational effects of gonadectomy early in life, although they sometimes have similar behavioural consequences. Better understanding of the involved neurobiological mechanisms is warranted to elucidate how these factors influence the outcome of T administration."

" The findings summarized in this review suggest that T indeed have anxiolytic properties. In rodents it is relatively well-established that T can reduce anxiety-related behaviour, albeit via different mechanisms."

" T is thought to enhance social approach behaviour, they show most promise as therapeutic agents in Social Anxiety Disorder."

 

[Atlaz]

I am afraid to take any drugs for anxiety and such. My mind is my primary wage earning device and I am too worried drugs will mess it up - especially those which are purposefully designed to change the make up of the mind!

Oxytocin for social cues:

"Similar to T, one might expect that enhanced recognition of social cues caused by OT administration might result in adverse effects in SAD patients who are already hypersensitive to social cues and tend to interpret them negatively. However recent findings suggest otherwise since administration in SAD patients resulted in a more positive interpretation of social cues during a socially stressful situation and reduced activity in brain areas that respond to negative social cues such as the amygdala, which corresponds to findings in healthy subjects."

" Unfortunately, effects of OT are very short-lasting, so the challenge lies in making the beneficial effects of OT sustain over a longer period of time."